BRAZIL
Lula recovering in ICU
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is recovering in an intensive-care unit (ICU) after undergoing surgery for an intracranial hemorrhage, the Sirio-Libanes hospital said in a statement early yesterday. The procedure was performed after the 79-year-old leftist leader felt headaches doctors believed resulted from a fall at home in October. Lula, who traveled from the capital, Brasilia, for treatment in Sao Paulo, is “well, under monitoring in an ICU bed” after the bleeding was drained, the hospital said.
GHANA
Opposition wins presidency
Opposition leader John Mahama won Saturday’s presidential election with 56 percent of the vote, defeating ruling party candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who earned 41 percent, the Electoral Commission said on Monday. The tallies confirmed victory for the National Democratic Congress party’s Mahama, a comeback for the former president that ends eight years in power for the New Patriotic Party. Bawumia already quickly conceded defeat on Sunday, acknowledging Ghanaians wanted change after his government failed to shake off widespread frustration over high costs of living.
AUSTRALIA
Tomahawk missile tested
An Australian warship has test-fired a US Tomahawk cruise missile, officials said yesterday, hailing a “major milestone” in the nation’s decade-long plan to beef up its fleet in the face of an Asia-Pacific arms race. HMAS Brisbane fired the Tomahawk on Tuesday last week off the US west coast, the government said in a statement, making it one of only three countries alongside the US and Britain to acquire and fire the missile. Canberra plans to buy more than 200 Tomahawk missiles to arm some of its warships.
RUSSIA
German ‘saboteur’ arrested
A German-Russian citizen has been arrested by Russian police for allegedly preparing to “sabotage” a rail line on orders from Kyiv, local news agencies quoted the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying yesterday. The man, born in 2003, is accused of having “prepared the sabotage of a section of railway line in the city of Nizhny Novgorod with an explosive device” in return for a “financial reward” by Security Service of Ukraine, an FSB statement said.
FRANCE
Internet firm fined US$53m
The nation’s largest Internet operator Orange was yesterday fined 50 million euros (US$53 million) for sending unsolicited ads disguised as e-mails to customers of its e-mail service. “Internet access and e-mail service provider Orange used its e-mail service to introduce advertisements between e-mails” that resembled e-mails, said Louis Dutheillet de Lamothe, deputy head of privacy watchdog CNIL. Advertisers are required to obtain permission before sending material to a person’s e-mail address and CNIL considered Orange’s actions were equivalent to that even if the e-mail addresses of users were not utilized.
CHINA
Ex-agriculture head arrested
Former minister of agriculture and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary Tang Renjian (唐仁健) has been arrested for suspected bribery, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said in a statement yesterday. The case, which has been concluded by the National Supervisory Commission, is being further processed, it said. Tang, 61, was removed from the leadership roster of the ministry’s Web site in May and expelled from the CCP six months later.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
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